---

Ethan Dotson Steals Wednesday Night at Wild West Shootout, Claims First Miniseries Win

Finale Tripleheader Weekend on Tap at Central Arizona Raceway

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (Jan. 14, 2026) — As the weather warmed up for the midweek special, Round Three of the 2026 Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout, presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts got underway on Wednesday at FK Rod Ends Central Arizona Raceway in Casa Grande, Arizona, presented by Low Voltage Solutions.

Ethan Dotson and Jake Smith notched their first Wild West Shootout victories, while Reece Solander captured his first A-Mod Wild West Shootout win.

Bakersfield, California’s Ethan Dotson stunned the front-runners late in Wednesday’s 30-lap main event, using the final restart to claim the $10,000 victory. Starting seventh, Dotson waited patiently for the right moment before making his move. He ripped past Bobby Pierce on the high side during the late restart and then powered away in the closing laps to capture the checkered flag.

Ethan Dotson described his winning move, saying, “Whenever Bobby (Pierce) drove in there and Terbo (Tyler Erb) picked the bottom, I was like ‘oh sh*t’ I got a chance here.” He added, “We’ve been working our asses off these last couple months … I told John (Henderson) just don’t give up on me … this is super awesome.”

Bobby Pierce, who settled for runner-up, dominated the first half of the main event before Hudson O’Neal started pressuring him on the bottom. O’Neal then suffered a flat left-rear tire, clearing the way for Ethan Dotson to make his move. Dotson drove the ASD Motorsports machine into Hoker Trucking Victory Lane, capturing his first career Wild West Shootout triumph.

Ryan Gustin completed the podium in third and also claimed the Rio Grande Waste Services Hard Charger Award, his second of the miniseries. He takes home an extra $500, while his crew pockets $1,000 courtesy of the Low Voltage Solutions Hard Chargin’ Crew Award.

The Shocker Hitch X-Modifieds presented by Border Tire saw a different winner this evening, following Blake Adams’ feature victories on opening weekend. Jacob Smith of St. Joseph, Minnesota, held off Adams on the final restart to claim his first-career Wild West Shootout victory.

Reece Solander of Emporia, Kansas, led every lap of the night’s 25-lap Mesilla Valley Transportation Modified main event, but had to fight for it in the closing laps. Dustin Sorensen made several attempts to take the lead, coming up just short on the final lap, giving Solander his first A-Mod victory at the Wild West Shootout.

The Wild West Shootout will take one final day off on Thursday before kicking off the final three nights of racing on Friday, January 16, with a $10,000-to-win show.

Single-day reserved tickets are still on sale now at www.WildWestShootout.net.

The Bailey Schweitzer Memorial Golf Tournament will take place on Thursday for participating teams. The Almost Famous Tent Party will be held on Friday following the completion of the day’s festivities.

If you can't make it out to Arizona in January to enjoy the amazing racing and beautiful weather, you can watch every lap on FloRacing. Sign up and watch here. https://flosports.link/4evwNYI.

Wild West Shootout | Night #1 | Feature Results:

Black Diamond Racecars Late Model division presented by Malvern Bank:

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[14]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard[10]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[6]; 8. 19-Dustin Sorensen[9]; 9. 75-Terry Phillips[18]; 10. 6-Hudson O'Neal[5]; 11. 86-Kyle Beard[8]; 12. 15D-Justin Duty[12]; 13. 18-Chase Junghans[21]; 14. 75A-Daniel Adam[13]; 15. 15S-Clay Stuckey[16]; 16. 49T-Jake Timm[19]; 17. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[24]; 18. 8-Dillon McCowan[22]; 19. 9T-Tim Isenberg[20]; 20. 97-Cade Dillard[15]; 21. 157-Mike Marlar[11]; 22. 0-Jake O'Neil[3]; 23. 96-RC Whitwell[23]; 24. 22*-Drake Troutman[17]

Mesilla Valley Transportation Modified division:

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21-Jake Smith[1]; 2. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 3. 19-Lucas Rodin[6]; 4. M17-Rob Moseley[7]; 5. 1S-Scott Bintz[5]; 6. 79-Jaden Christ[3]; 7. 27P-Parker Anderson[12]; 8. 3J-Josh Cain[11]; 9. 22-Keenan Glasser[19]; 10. 99-Jeremy Haddox[18]; 11. 28-David Pitt[13]; 12. 980-Kaden Woodie[21]; 13. 44-Eric Winemiller[9]; 14. 30-Blake Davis[10]; 15. 509-Brennan Davis[22]; 16. 50X-Paul Parks[16]; 17. 14J-Jacob Hodges[2]; 18. 9-Ken Schrader[8]; 19. 19X-James Trantina III[14]; 20. 32C-Curtis Stieh[15]; 21. 5M-Eric McNutt[17]; 22. 34-Brandon Rehill[24]; 23. 93-Greg Gorham[23]; 24. 12-Mike Rosales[20]

Shocker Hitch X-Modified division presented by Border Tire:

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 5-Reece Solander[1]; 2. 19-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 3. 58X-Gary Christian[2]; 4. 20S-Rodney Sanders[8]; 5. 91-Joe Duvall[3]; 6. 25-Kale Murphrey[6]; 7. 38T-Dylan Thornton[14]; 8. 4W-Tyler Wolff[15]; 9. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[7]; 10. 40D-Blake Adams[11]; 11. 10M-Talan Willis[16]; 12. 2SS-Mark Smith[5]; 13. 65-Tyler Davis[17]; 14. 721-Troy Gemmill[10]; 15. 7G-Gabe Hodges[18]; 16. 97A-Cole Anderson[12]; 17. J17-Jake Gallardo[20]; 18. 07X-Troy Morris III[22]; 19. 80XX-Jason Langford[9]; 20. 2J-Blake Jegtvig[21]; 21. 19R-Lucas Rodin[13]; 22. 12S-Hunter Sandy[24]; 23. 19SB-Lance Mari[23]; 24. 2K-Taylor Kuehl[19]

The Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts is made possible by Rio Grande Waste Services, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Pit Boss, FK Rod Ends, Low Voltage Solutions, Malvern Bank, Black Diamond Race Cars, Hoker Trucking, ShockerHitch.com, Penske Racing Shocks, Merry’s Home Furnishings, Shaw Trucking, Schaeffer Oil, AM-1 Roofing, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Border Tire, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products, Swift Springs, Dirt Pro Grading & Padwork, Contractors & Developers (C&D) Bonding, Whisler Construction, Shocks by Hammer, Midwest Sheet Metal, Speedway Motors, Day Motor Sports, Hoosier Racing Tires, Sunoco Race Fuels, Pro Power Engines, Beaver Stripes, Arizona Differential, Gorsuch Performance Solutions, Don Frank Floors, Toste Construction, Winning Edge Carburetion, The Joie of Seating, Needmore Speedway, DirtDraft.com, AC Designs, Hochatown Saloon, and FloRacing.

---

Article Media

Back to News